Her Cowboy Protector by Pamela Britton

Author:Pamela Britton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-07-12T15:30:41+00:00

* * *

“A word with you, Colt?” Sheriff Ben Shepherd said late the following morning.

Colt pushed back from his computer and followed his boss into his private office.

Ben shut the door. A humorless brunette in her mid-forties was already there, waiting. “You remember Investigator Adams?”

Hard not to. Ilyse Adams was the internal affairs officer for the department. Colt sat down in the chair indicated.

Ben took a seat behind his desk. Ilyse, already sitting, opened up a notepad on her lap. A veteran of the Chicago police force, she had been hired after a traffic ticket and bribery scandal erupted the previous year in an adjacent county. Her job was to keep corruption at bay and ensure protocol was followed at every level.

“What’s going on?” Colt asked, afraid he already knew.

Ben steepled his hands in front of him. “There’s been a complaint you acted unprofessionally at the accident scene last night in not citing Mr. Zellecky for reckless driving.”

Colt exhaled. He’d known, after talking to the others in the E.R., that there was going to be trouble. “It didn’t seem appropriate, given Mr. Zellecky’s medical condition.”

Ben sighed. “The New York couple Mr. Zellecky hit feel otherwise. They allege deference was paid to the local resident who caused the accident over them.”

Aware the complaint mirrored what actually had been going on in Spring County the previous year, Colt protested, “That’s not true. Rio and I tended to both of them on a priority basis.” They’d been nothing but helpful and accommodating.

“I’d agree if you had cited Mr. Zellecky for causing the accident, but you didn’t.” Ben fixed Colt with a somber glance. “You will now.”

Colt pressed his lips together. “Yes, sir.”

“Do you have a problem with that, Deputy McCabe?” Investigator Adams asked coyly.

“Yeah, now that you ask,” Colt drawled, “as a matter of fact, I do.”

“Go on,” Ilyse encouraged with her usual can’t-wait-to-gut-you smile. Although, to date, she had yet to actually charge anyone in the department with illegal or unethical behavior. Some were questioning the value of such a high-salaried employee when there was no corruption to be found.

Colt looked the IA officer in the eye. “Taking Mr. Zellecky to court is a waste of time and resources.”

As protective of his officers as he was determined to run a clean department, Ben Shepherd intervened sternly, “That’s not for you to decide, Colt.”

Wasn’t it? “I beg to differ.” Colt leaned forward to make his point. “These kinds of decisions are what set us apart from big-city police forces. We know our residents. And this accident, as unfortunate as it was, wasn’t caused by deliberate carelessness—it was illness-related.”

Although his boss listened intently, the internal affairs officer looked skeptical. Undeterred, Colt continued, “It’s no secret Mr. Zellecky’s recently been under an enormous amount of stress. Consequently, his blood glucose levels have been all over the map. Very low blood sugar levels cause acute disorientation, to the point the diabetic both acts and appears drunk.”

“Exactly why he shouldn’t have been driving,” the IA officer said.

Colt interjected, “I talked to Mr.

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